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Pusha T
Terrence Thornton (born May 13, 1977),[1] better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American hip hop recording artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is also known as one half of hip hop duo Clipse, alongside his brother and fellow American rapper Gene "No Malice" Thornton. He is the co-founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Re-Up Records along with his aforementioned brother. In September 2010, Thornton announced his signing to Kanye West'sGOOD Music label and on March 21, 2011, released his first solo project, a mixtape titled Fear of God.[2][3] He released his debut solo album My Name Is My Name on October 8, 2013. Biography 1977–2009: Early life and career beginnings Pusha T performing in 2007. Pusha T was born Terrence Thornton on May 13, 1977, in The Bronx borough of New York City.[4][5] Thornton and his family soon relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, where he and his brother, Gene 'No Malice' Thornton, grew up.[4][5] In 1992, Terrence and his brother Gene formed the duo Clipse. With help from American record producer and fellow VirginianPharrell Williams, the duo eventually signed to Elektra Records in 1997 and released Exclusive Audio Footage, their only album under that label. Of the two brothers, Terrence was more open to features, appearing on Kelis' 1999 single"Good Stuff" and Nivea's 2001 single "Run Away (I Wanna Be with U)", respectively. In 2004, he and his brother launched their record label imprint, Re-Up Records and formed hip hop group Re-Up Gang, along with fellow rappersAb-Liva and Sandman. In 2006, they released their third studio album and their most commercial album, Hell Hath No Fury, which was praised by critics. After one more album as the Clipse in 2009, both No Malice and Pusha T announced that they were taking time off from the duo to focus on their own respective solo projects.[6] 2010–2011: Solo career and signing with GOOD Music Following his signing to GOOD Music in September 2010, Thornton was featured on a number of fellow label mates' projects such as Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appearing on his hit "Runaway" and premiering the song with him at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. He was also featured on several tracks from West's GOOD Fridays series and made other appearances on Swizz Beatz's Monster Mondays series, Lloyd Banks'H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2) and tabi Bonney's Fresh, respectively. On the week of December 16, 2010, Thornton signed exclusively with NUE Agency.[7] On February 11, 2011, Funkmaster Flex debuted Thornton's first solo offering on New York City's Hot 97.[8] The track, titled "My God", was produced by Hit-Boy and was generally well received by the public. Soon after, the song leaked onto the internet, however was not officially released through iTunes andAmazon until August 24, 2011. On March 21, 2011, Thornton released his first solo project, a mixtape titled Fear of God, which included "My God" and featured freestyles and other original songs. Soon after he began working on his debut EP Fear of God II: Let Us Pray, which initially included four songs from the mixtape and five new songs. On August 31, 2011, it was announced Thornton signed a solo record deal with Def Jam.[9] The EP was originally set to released on June 21, 2011,[10] it was than pushed back to August 23, and for a while September 27, 2011, was believed to be the date, however on October 6, 2011, Thornton announced the EP is set to drop November 8, 2011. In addition it was revealed he added four more songs to the EP making it 12 tracks rather than just the nine tracks that were previously announced.[11] Pusha T performing "Runaway" with West at Lollapalooza Chile in Santiago, 2011. The first single from Fear of God II: Let Us Pray was leaked onto the Internet on July 8, 2011. The song, titled "Trouble on My Mind", features Odd Future frontman, Tyler, The Creator. The EP's second single, "Amen" was released September 13, 2011. The song, originally meant for Young Jeezy, was produced by Shawty Redd and features verses from Kanye West and Young Jeezy respectively. After the EP's release on November 8, the project debuted at number 66 on the [http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Billboard_200 Billboard 200] with 8,900 copies sold in its first week released.[12][13] It also entered at number ten on Billboard‍ 's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, at number eight on Billboard‍ 's Top Rap Albums, and at number 25 on its Digital Albums chart.[14][15] In 2011, Thornton appeared on the second season of the HBO series How to Make It in America. He played the role of a henchman for Urban Caribbean League.[16] Soon after the release of his EP, Pusha T started working on his yet-to-be-titled, solo debut studio album, which is being executive produced by Kanye West and includes production from The Neptunes, Bangladesh, Ryan Leslie and Alex da Kid.[17][18][19] Thornton has stated that after his solo album and the Re-Up Gang mixtape, Long Live the Cane, he and his brother No Malice, will reunite and release another album.[10] In late 2011, English pop singer Pixie Lott released "What Do You Take Me For?", the second single from her second studio album Young Foolish Happy which featured Pusha T.[20] The song was a hit single in the U.K., peaking at number ten on the charts. 2012–present: Cruel Summer and My Name is My Name On October 19, 2011, Kanye West announced via Twitter plans for a Spring 2012 GOOD Music album release. On April 6, 2012, "Mercy", the lead single from the GOOD Music compilation album Cruel Summer was released. The song, produced by newly signed in-house producer Lifted, features Pusha T along with Kanye West,Big Sean and southern rapper 2 Chainz.[21] On May 24, 2012, Pusha T released a song titled "Exodus 23:1" featuring The-Dream. It is speculated that the song is a diss track aimed at Young Money rappers Drake and Lil Wayne.[22] This resulted in a diss-song by Lil Wayne, to which Thornton did not respond, but called "horrible" in an interview.[23] He was then featured alongside West on the third single for Cruel Summer - "New God Flow". In October 2012, Pusha T made an appearance on thesoundtrack to the film The Man with the Iron Fists on a track titled "Tick Tock" alongside fellow American rappers Raekwon, Joell Ortiz and Danny Brown.[24] On October 8, 2012, Thornton released "Pain" featuring southern rapper Future, the first single from his upcoming debut album. That same day Spin magazinereported that Pusha T's debut album had been pushed back until 2013.[25] While performing in Vancouver, Canada, it was reported that Pusha T announced he would be releasing a mixtape entitled Wrath of Cain preceding the release of his debut studio album.[26][27] Later in November, Thornton announced the title of his debut studio album to be, My Name Is My Name.[28] On December 5, 2012 Thornton released "Blocka" the first offering from his Wrath of Caine mixtape. The song features Travis Scott and Popcaan.[29] The music video for the song was released on December 11, 2012.[30] The mixtape was released on January 28, 2013 along with his album coming at the end of the first quarter of 2013. In January 2013 it was announced that Pusha would be performing at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.[31] My Name is My Name was scheduled to be released on July 16, 2013, but was pushed back to October 2013. It received universal acclaim from critics[32] and the album features production from Kanye West, The Neptunes, The-Dream, Just Blaze, No I.D., Nottz, Don Cannon and Swizz Beatz, and features from Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar among others. In an interview with AskMen, Thornton revealed that shortly after his debut album is released, he will finish working on his sophomore album, entitled King Push,[33] which is set to be released on June 30.[34] Pusha T provided guest vocals over a Vice remix of "I'll Be Gone" for the remix album, Recharged by American rock band Linkin Park. Mike Shinoda, co-vocalist and producer of Linkin Park, put up a post on the band's official Facebook page that contributions would come from Pusha T and many others. Controversies Feud with Consequence After releasing "My God", the first offering off his solo mixtape, former GOOD Music label mate Consequence took to Twitter and claimed Pusha T stole his flow and lyrics from a song of his that Pusha T was supposed to appear on, titled "The Last Supper".[35] On July 22, 2011 Consequence released a song titled "The Plagurist Society" where he takes shots and questions Pusha T’s coke-dealing raps. Towards the end of the record the Queens native promises to take aim at Kanye West next saying "You're nothing but a body shield, for that coward from the mid-west/ so yes you can bet, that your boss is next". Pusha T responded to the diss when he appeared on Chicago’s 107.5 WGCI’s The Morning Riot and said nobody is looking for Consequence, as for if he will respond on a record he went on to say "At the end of the day I am an artist and this whole rap thing is fun to me, so I can't say you won't hear nothing, but to go back and forth with him, it's not right, I won't get anything out of it."[36] Later that day, Consequence called in to Chicago’s WGCI’s The Morning Riot in retaliation to the remarks Pusha T made about him. He also premiered a song titled "Everybody Told Me 2 (Straighten It Out)" where he disses West, Pusha T and GOOD Music in general.[37][38] Since then Pusha T has responded to Consequence on a record. The song was the remix to Ace Hood's "Go 'N' Get It" which also featured Beanie Sigel, Busta Rhymes and Styles P. In the song Pusha raps "Consequence, nigga, talk is cheap You don't want a problem? Off the beef Before I off his ass with his awful teeth". On August 19, Consequence released Movies on Demand 3 and continued to diss his former label and Pusha T on songs such as "Career Killer" and "Mr.RapFix (Hot Water)". On September 15, 2011 Consequence appeared on MTV's Rap Fix and announced his feud with Kanye West and GOOD Music are over.[39] While out in Chicago in October 2011, Pusha T appeared on WGCI radio for a second time, and confirmed that the "beef" was indeed over, that it had died out and they have moved on. Feud with Lil Wayne Tension between Pusha T and rapper, Lil Wayne, had been going on for years, beginning soon after Clipse and Birdman worked on "What Happened to That Boy", the latter's 2002 single. In 2006, Wayne felt the Clipse song "Mr. Me Too" was directed at him,[40] and in 2012 Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" song caused Lil Wayne to vent onTwitter, later releasing a diss track titled "Goulish", in which he says "Fuck Pusha T and anybody that love him / His head up his ass, I'mma have to head-butt him".[41]Pusha T has called Wayne's diss track "horrible" and said he felt it didn't deserve a response. Both men have downplayed the feud, with Wayne saying he's over it.[42][43]However in late November, Pusha T dissed Wayne and Birdman on a new Ludacris song titled "Mad Fo" from his "#IDGAF" mixtape. Pusha T later revealed his motivation for the verse: "Oh because it's a Swizz beat. You got to blame Swizz. See, when Wayne got a Swizz beat... with the "Ghoulish" track; he got busy, well he tried to."[44] Discography *''Lord Willin''' (2002) (with Malice as Clipse) *''Hell Hath No Fury'' (2006) (with Malice as Clipse) *''Til the Casket Drops'' (2009) (with Malice as Clipse) *''Fear of God II: Let Us Pray'' (2011) *''Cruel Summer'' (2012) (with GOOD Music) *''My Name Is My Name'' (2013) *''King Push'' (2015)[33][45] Awards and nominations Grammy Awards Category:1977 births